Rochester - The Syracuse Crunch talked a good game Sunday night, then played an even better one once the real action got started.

After staring down the Amerks in a pregame tiff, gritty Syracuse got third-period goals from Zenon Konopka and Ryan Keller to rally for a 3-2 win over host Rochester in one of its most impressive showings of the season.

Keller's goal at the 10:08 mark of the third stood up as the game-winner for Syracuse, which won its fifth in a row, a season-high. Workhorse goalie Tomas Popperle made 18 saves as the Crunch kept its wisp of a playoff hopes alive.

With 10 games left in the regular season, Syracuse trails fourth-place Grand Rapids by nine points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North. The Crunch won its fourth straight by a 3-2 score, and in each of those four games Syracuse has trailed at some point.

"We're finding a way to win whereas earlier in the season we found a way to lose those one-goal games,'' said Syracuse coach Ross Yates. "We're on a mission. This is our playoffs for us now. We have a small chance and we're giving it all we can every night.''

Syracuse is now 3-28-1-0 when trailing after two periods, but two of those wins have come within the last week. The toll of Sunday's final 20 minutes was apparent in the locker room afterwards, as players either sat statue-still or walked around in obvious pain.

"In the third period, we out-hit them. We took hits to make plays,'' said Konopka, who lay prone on a bench several minutes after the game. "We just sacrificed our bodies. That's just how we roll. That's why we're winning games.''

Syracuse was ready to rock minutes before the opening faceoff. Konopka said teammate Darcy Verot, stretching at the time, was slashed by an Amerk in warmups. That brought all the players on the ice together for face-to-face exchanges at the red line, but no punches were thrown.
"Obviously, it added to our motivation,'' Konopka said. "We're going to stand up for ourselves. We were just hoping to win the game by three goals so we could take care of business (with revenge).''

That will have to wait. Syracuse is more than happy with the two points, with the capper coming from Keller.

With the score tied at 2-2, Crunch forward Andrew Murray made a great play to get and then keep the puck in the Rochester zone. He threw it behind the net to Keller, who came out on the right side of goalie Adam Dennis and stuffed it 5-hole.

"I think he (Dennis) maybe thought the puck was going around to the other side. I was in his blind spot,'' Keller said. "I picked up the puck before he could figure out where it was coming from.''

It was an ugly goal, but a true masterpiece compared to the power-play marker from Konopka that tied the game at the 4:17 mark. The score was set up a few seconds earlier, when Yates called time out to give his top line of Konopka, Curtis Glencross and Joakim Lindstrom a rest so they could stay on the ice.

"I didn't know if we'd get another power play the rest of the game,'' Yates said. "So I decided to take a time out, rest them and then send them out for the rest of the power play.''

The strategy was golden when Konopka's blast from the high right point hit a body in front and dipped down past Dennis.

"At that time, obviously you're tired,'' Konopka said. "But adrenaline takes over. We took it personally that we needed to get something done.''